Big Week Ahead For Longhorns Basketball

The Texas Longhorns basketball team won their second straight Big 12 game Saturday night, moving out to a big lead and then holding off a spirit Oklahoma State comeback to beat the Cowboys 74-69.  With the win the Longhorns move to 11-6 overall and 3-2 in conference play. OSU falls to 9-8, 1-4 on the year.

The mini-winning streak came at a good time because the Horns are about to take a big step up in weight class this week.  The Longhorns will have to play their best basketball of the year if they are to have any chance of winning either of his week’s games.

Wednesday night will bring a trip to Morgantown to face Bob Huggin’s 11th ranked Mountaineers. West Virginia (15-2, 4-1) has likely already punched their ticket to the Big Dance.  The Mountaineers dropped their first Big 12 game on Saturday, losing a heartbreaker to no. 2 Oklahoma in Norman.

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Their only other loss this year was against current number 13 Virginia.

The Mountaineers biggest win of the year was a 74-63 win over no. 1 Kansas earlier this month. The Mountaineers didn’t just win that game, they controlled the game from the outset an announced their presence to the rest of the conference.

West Virginia has been outscoring their opponents by an average of more than 20 points per game.  They are also +10 in rebounding and +6 in turnover margin, meaning that they are a handful on both ends of the court.

West Virginia leading scorer is forward Devin Williams.  Williams overages just over 14 ppg on the year and will be a handful on the boards as he is far and away their leading rebounder as well.

The Mountaineers also get major production out of their top three guards.  Jansean Paige overages 13 points a game and is WVU’s most accurate three point shooter. Jevon Carter and Daxter Miles Jr. also overage over 10 points a game and have also combined for 65 steals on the year.

For the Longhorns, they will have to protect the ball.  The Horns struggled with OSU’s press at times Saturday night and are sure to get more press from West Virginia.

Texas will also have to do something no one else has done this year, win at WVU Coliseum.  The Mountaineers are 8-0 on th year at home, including the surprisingly easy win against Kansas.

Speaking of Kansas, the Jayhawks will welcome the Longhorns to Allen Fieldhouse on Saturday afternoon.  With their win over TCU on Saturday, Kansas has now won 33 straight home games, making the trip to Lawrence even more daunting for the Horns.

Despite the loss to West Virginia, Kansas (15-2, 4-1) still holds down the top spot in the AP as of this writing and are looking like a solid bet for a number one seed come March.

Texas Longhorns

Big man Ellis Perry leads the Jayhawks, averaging 16 points and 7 rebounds a game.  Guard Wayne Selden Jr. averages 15 a game while diminutive Frank Mason III goes for 13 per game and is an assist machine, totalling 89 assists on the year.

Extending the Longhorns recent success is going to be a tall task this week for Texas and the Longhorns will likely have to settle for moral victories against two teams who would seem to be in an entirely different class than Texas.

However, if the Horns can protect the ball and get hot from three point range, they have enough talent to make either game interesting.

Luckily, after this week the conference slate will lighten up a little before the Horns’ next big challenge, a Monday night affair in Norman against the second ranked Sooners.